weave

I am flying to UK next week. I was asked by someone I've worked with for a few years to take some sneakers to his friend in London with me. I trust the guy but it still makes me nervous. At the time I said only if I can pack it myself because I may be asked if I packed my bags, and he said that was OK.

Plot twist: He's from Nigeria and goes back and forth there 1-2x a year. He's a pastor at a church in the U.S..

Need advice. Should I disclose this to TSA? Should I voluntarily ask for extra screening on these items? Or be a jerk and refuse to take them with me?

I'm leaning towards saying no now that I have written this out. I have Global Entry and do not want to do anything that might jeopardize that. That program is way too convenient to risk losing.

Am I being too paranoid?

weave

It's amazing how typing something out brings clarity to one's mind.

This is stupid. There's too many no win situations for me no matter what.

• I'm asked if I was asked to bring something with me. I lie. I give a tell. I get pulled out for extra questions. I risk missing my flight no matter what.
• I ask for extra screening. I'm going to be asked why I am asking. I tell them. It's going to raise suspicions. No matter what, I may miss my flight
• Worst case, something is found, like some drugs in the shoes. In that case it doesn't matter if I knew, disclosed, or whatever. A LEO won't care. That's for a court to decide. I had possession. I had control. Whether I knew or not will end up being addressed by a very expensive lawyer. Oh yeah, I definitely won't be on the flight.

So my answer is going to be "Sorry, I'm just doing a carry on and won't have room."

Thanks for letting me air this out in my head!

Randyk47

Great self analysis and decision. ^

Maxwell Smart

If you're talking about a new pair of sneakers, might you consider physically buying them yourself from a store and getting reimbursed by your acquaintance? That way you eliminate all of your concerns (other than having to make contact with someone you don't know in the UK)

Otherwise, given the fact that you're even thinking about this, yeah, you're making the right decision.

I personally know of one incident where someone was asked to carry a piece of clothing to someone in another country. The person did, had no issues, personally delivered the item to the recipient, and then watched as the recipient took the item and retrieved a small cache of gems that were hidden inside. Nothing illicit, but definitely a customs violation. Yikes.

Since hearing of that event, I don't carry anything for anyone except for family and very close friends, and even then I inspect everything personally and ensure to my satisfaction that there is nothing questionable involved. And if the person gets offended? Tough. There's always Fedex.

Often1

Buy the pastor a pre-paid shipping label as a gift and let him ship them. This is 2014, not 1954. Beyond suspicious in this day and age, given that it is sneakers.

cbn42

What exactly is the issue with a pair of sneakers? Can you articulate your concern?

Look over them and make sure he hasn't hidden anything inside, and stop being so paranoid. Al Qaeda is not going to carry out its next attack with a pair of sneakers.

AlbaGuBrath

The paranoia here is palatable. Check the shoes if you don't trust the guy.

AllieKat

Sneakers are commonly used to conceal drugs, so yeah, being a bit scared makes sense. If possible, I'd ask HIM to accompany you to the airport and have HIM request a customs inspection - so if anything is caught on them he's the one in possession - just explain to the customs agent why you're requesting this.

Or, a little white lie if it is innocent and you don't want to destroy the friendship...

NextTrip

+1
You just don't have room to carry them. He can mail them easy enough.

WillCAD

I understand OP's concern and I don't consider it paranoia, I consider it reasonable, articulable suspicion.

Given that it is easy to ship something as innocuous as sneakers to a first-world destination such as London, it is odd that OPs friend would ask him to carry a pair of sneakers rather than just ship them.

Given that it is quite easy for persons in the UK to order sneakers from US companies online and have them shipped, it is odd that OPs friend's friend didn't just order the dang things himself.

Given that being asked to carry something for a friend is an extremely common method for smugglers to get small items like illicit drugs and precious stones through customs without risk to the actual smuggler (i.e. using an innocent as an unsuspecting dupe), and given the oddity of the sneaker carry request, it is perfectly reasonable to suspect that perhaps the Nigerian pastor might be involved in smuggling, or might be a dupe himself for some nefarious folks back home (given the trusting nature of most ministers and pastors, this is not a huge stretch.)

Counter arguments can be made. The pastor, being from Nigeria, may not be aware of the ready availability of FedEx or even USPS international shipping. No problem - OP can show him.

The pastor, being from a poor country, may have a poor church and cannot afford the shipping cost for a pair of sneakers. But that argument is somewhat blown by the fact that the pastor flies back and forth to Nigeria 1-2 times every year, a rather expensive trip for a local pastor. If he can afford 2 r/t tickets to Nigeria per year, he can afford international parcel post to the UK for a pair of sneakers.

Odds are that this is a perfectly innocent request from a guy who just wants to save himself a few bucks by having a friend hand-deliver something rather than paying for shipping. But the dangers involved in such a request, not to mention the hassle of arranging a meeting, possibly an expensive cab ride through London, while jet-lagged and tired from a TATL, are simply too much for me to ever accept. But that's just me. I like to keep things as simple as possible.

OP, just say no. You're going carry-on only and your luggage is just too full. Don't even touch these sneakers; if they do indeed contain anything illegal like drugs, there may be residue on them which could transfer to you.

ScatterX

Just say no.

Let's assume this is 100% perfectly innocent. The situation you described is still one that will completely freak airport security/LEO types. You will, almost guaranteed, have a bad day and may possibly have more than one bad day or get put on some sort of list you don't want to be on. Let's call this great unpleasantness. So, you are effectively left with only one choice: lie and hope nobody finds out in order to avoid the great unpleasantness. I humbly suggest that others do not deliberately get into positions where lying is necessary (much less the only reasonable option).

Now, consider this scenario again with some probability that this is not perfectly innocent.

alphaod

If you have trust issues, don't bring the sneakers.

AllieKat

That's a bit overboard, drug residue is a non-issue. Sure, you'll trip the initial ion-mobility spectrometry swab, but so many people have innocent contact with surfaces that contain drugs that unless they find more evidence than a couple positive swabs, you're fine (speaking as someone it's happened to...)

NJTrucker

No way!

weave

Update. I just got back from my UK trip. I did NOT take the sneakers. The pastor ending up shipping them himself.

Thanks for the thoughtful replies. The scenario about someone else duping the pastor was not that far fetched of a possibility. My father is also a minister and got duped by a prisoner to deliver a letter for him to a friend when he was doing a ministerial visit and was caught and banned from further prison visits.

Bad people often take advantage of good people. I had my concerns and just articulating it in this post helped me think it through, along with other's feedback, and concluded it was just a bad idea.